Thursday I went back to the apartment on the hill to do a final cleaning (as Friday was my official move-out date.) I met up with the "old" roommates and we tried to go downtown for a "farewell" beer but oddly, all the bars were packed for some unknown reason.
Friday I got up somewhat early and wend downtown to pay my rent (for the first time this week.) After my banking was done I stopped by the big department store and bought some new sheets for my bed (had a twin mattress in the place on the hill, now I'm back to a futon on a platform.) I also got a rolling pipe-hanger, as one of the things my room lacks is hanger space.
Saturday my retail therapy continued as I found a nice desk lamp. in the evening I splurged and ordered pizza.
Sunday I decided to head over to Otsu. An hour and 1500yen later I was 80km away in a little lake-side town on the shore of Japan's biggest lake (lake Biwa.)For those keeping track: I've been to Otsu before: I visited for a day when I came down to visit Sparks 3 years ago. This time I ended up taking more or less the same path as last time. I spent pretty much all day walking around taking pictures.
Otsu seen from the end of a pier.
Breakwater, lake, mountains.
Non-functioning dock (taken through the links of a fence.)
Crazy short (about 3' in height) tunnel for kids to get to school under a busy road.
Fortune tide to a tree branch.
One the large temples I visited had caged peacocks.
The Biwa Canal (no longer in use) runs back into the mountains.
The 35th parallel at JR Otsu station.
Globe showing the 35th parallel.
Photo-stitched Pan-o-rama of Otso from the Miidera Temple grounds.Monday I awoke to my phone ringing followed by an awkward conversation in half awake Japanese. Evidently I botched the transfer of my rent money on Friday and had to come into the bank and do it again. It's a small wonder that my rent gets paid at all, being that the whole system is in Japanese ("banking Japanese" ta-boot!) After going in and figuring out that I was one letter off in spelling my landlord's name (note that ALL of the bank information was correct AND saved in the system from last month) I re-entered the transaction and submitted it again.
After my banking adventure I headed off to Osaka to meet up with the people from my training group. The plan was to meet up, have dinner, and then do karaoke together. Unfortunately in the typical dysfunctional style of this group... only two other people (out of six) showed up. Fast forward over so-so sushi, good, yaki-niku (the grill-it-yourself kind), tasty street beers, and a really inexpensive bar. I figured I'd left myself enough time to catch the last train home. Coming from south Osaka I easily made my subway up to Osaka station but the last Hankyu train leaving from Osaka in the direction of Kobe only went 1/4 the way there. In stroke of genius number one I decided to get on. Sure enough, it stopped where it said it would, leaving me 3/4 of the distance away from home. Thinking quickly I jogged down to the JR station (about 2km away.) Not seeing an improvement in my fortune I arrived just as the last train pulled away. Still the crowing idea of the night was to come. What I SHOULD have done is found a park or an internet cafe to sleep in (the cafes even have "overnight" rates.) No, I in my ultimate moment of pure genius decide to take a cab home. Turns out, yeah, Sannomiya is, like, 20km from Nishinomiya. And it turns out that a 20km cab ride costs almost 7000yen. I can pretty much stop writing now because you know where the rest of my vacation funds went. *See my not getting over to Nara this week.*
Tuesday was spent recuperating and cleaning up the living room (which I don't think hasdseen a dust rag in years.) I also picked up my dry-cleaning from the cleaners across the street (which, it turns out, does shirts for 200yen with a two day turn-around.)
Today's fun was taking a long walk to the un-explored-West of the apartment.
Tomorrow is the first day back at work. I have a feeling re-entry is going to be rough but at the same time it'll be kind of nice to get back to work and see all my students.
In the weather category it's been quite breezy the last few days. Looking at the forecast for the next week it's supposed to be gradually cooler each day. I can only hope there's a continued break in the humidity as well.
As usual I feel as though I'm forgetting something... but oh well.
Jaa Mata Ne.
After my banking adventure I headed off to Osaka to meet up with the people from my training group. The plan was to meet up, have dinner, and then do karaoke together. Unfortunately in the typical dysfunctional style of this group... only two other people (out of six) showed up. Fast forward over so-so sushi, good, yaki-niku (the grill-it-yourself kind), tasty street beers, and a really inexpensive bar. I figured I'd left myself enough time to catch the last train home. Coming from south Osaka I easily made my subway up to Osaka station but the last Hankyu train leaving from Osaka in the direction of Kobe only went 1/4 the way there. In stroke of genius number one I decided to get on. Sure enough, it stopped where it said it would, leaving me 3/4 of the distance away from home. Thinking quickly I jogged down to the JR station (about 2km away.) Not seeing an improvement in my fortune I arrived just as the last train pulled away. Still the crowing idea of the night was to come. What I SHOULD have done is found a park or an internet cafe to sleep in (the cafes even have "overnight" rates.) No, I in my ultimate moment of pure genius decide to take a cab home. Turns out, yeah, Sannomiya is, like, 20km from Nishinomiya. And it turns out that a 20km cab ride costs almost 7000yen. I can pretty much stop writing now because you know where the rest of my vacation funds went. *See my not getting over to Nara this week.*
Tuesday was spent recuperating and cleaning up the living room (which I don't think hasdseen a dust rag in years.) I also picked up my dry-cleaning from the cleaners across the street (which, it turns out, does shirts for 200yen with a two day turn-around.)
Today's fun was taking a long walk to the un-explored-West of the apartment.
Tomorrow is the first day back at work. I have a feeling re-entry is going to be rough but at the same time it'll be kind of nice to get back to work and see all my students.
In the weather category it's been quite breezy the last few days. Looking at the forecast for the next week it's supposed to be gradually cooler each day. I can only hope there's a continued break in the humidity as well.
As usual I feel as though I'm forgetting something... but oh well.
Jaa Mata Ne.
1 comment:
Trip to Otsu, 1500 Yen
Cab ride home, 7000 Yen
Learning experience, Priceless.
MomCat
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